


If Hux Could Kill

by ElfMaidenOfLight



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Porn with Feelings, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:00:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23960449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElfMaidenOfLight/pseuds/ElfMaidenOfLight
Summary: For months, Hux has been supplying the Resistance with sensitive, First Order intelligence, meeting with Rose on various planets to facilitate their top-secret data transfers. During their most recent rendezvous, they are suddenly ambushed by a new foe, a bounty hunter sent to tail the spy and eliminate them.Adrenaline running high from their desperate struggle for survival, the pair give in to the growing tension between them, finding comfort and release in each other's arms after fighting for their lives.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 43
Kudos: 121





	If Hux Could Kill

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Brit Hux-Tico (birchwoods01)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/birchwoods01/gifts), [KarmaDash_is_ShippingTrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarmaDash_is_ShippingTrash/gifts).



> Dedicated to Brit and Karma, my partners in crime.

~*~

After the rain the night before, the industrial city of Zinatu was gleaming, the light reflecting off the immense durasteel buildings almost too bright in the afternoon sun. 

Off to the side of one of the bustling market streets, Rose checked the chronometer on her wrist.

For once, she was early. 

Vindication and glee swelled within her.

Typically, Rose was _never_ early. Last minute tinkering or, admittedly, oversleeping, usually made her at least ten minutes late. This time, however, she’d made sure to set all her instruments a good fifteen minutes fast.

 _This_ time, he wouldn’t be able to tease her about it.

It took her a few meetings to realize that all his backhanded remarks and subtle digs meant he was simply teasing her. At first, she thought he was being an ass, just another way to put her down, and maybe it had started out that way, but... Rose suspected he’d begun to enjoy riling her up for the fun of it.

She could see it, when he pestered her over one thing or another, and his lip would start to curl into a smirk, only it tilted more toward a fond expression with none of the old hatred behind it. Rose wasn’t sure how that made her feel. It was all certainly preferable to him raging at her. Almost without her noticing, his gradually less-hostile manner had softened how she regarded him, even if he insisted on getting under her skin.

Well, this go-around, she’d be the one to needle _him._

Rose looked up and down the roadway, checking one side of the street and then the other. 

Various carts crowded the already tightly-packed lane, the voices of merchants loudly haggling goods filling the air, storefronts overflowing onto the grungy pavement. Figures of all kinds meandered about their daily lives, stepping around filthy street urchins,dirty puddles, and the rising steam of street grates, off-gassing from the immense factories that made the city the crowded, soot-covered maze that it was.

He never met her in the same place twice. It was all part of the rules, or whatever. 

Rose had to admit, the _mission_ part of it all was a welcome addition to her duties, since it meant she got to travel to a bunch of new planets she never would otherwise have cause to visit. 

It had been a few months since they’d started this little dance of theirs: his intelligence gathering and subsequent passing of information off to the Resistance through Rose. When they’d first begun, the hateful tension between them was thick, palpable, and Rose hadn’t been sure if she could honor their arrangement and keep from socking him right in his arrogant face.

It was better now, or rather, their accord was less murderous than before. It had become almost… co-worker like, not quite amiable. Hux was still a pretentious prick, but...

Sometimes, Rose would catch glimpses of the man, not the General; glimpses of his dry wit, his obvious technological brilliance, or even rarer, his softer expressions: humor, relief, triumph. She’d only seen these fleetingly, out of the corner of her eye when he thought she wasn’t looking, but she definitely hadn’t imagined them. 

All these things revealed him to be human, not just the monster she thought him to be.

This made him tolerable, at least.

She’d actually started to look forward to their meetings, to their banter. It was new and thrilling to verbally duel with a man who saw her as his equal, at least where her engineering abilities were concerned.

Rose tapped her foot impatiently, stilling as she heard a huffing breath behind her. 

“Now, this is a rare surprise.”

Rose whirled around to see Armitage Hux standing in the alleyway behind her, posture ever perfect under his long, black greatcoat. He was sporting his usual flat cap hat, one she’d seen him in many times since their first meeting: a last ditch effort to hide his shock of ginger hair.

Rose cocked her hip, hand planting there. 

“Well, well, well,” she crooned. “look who _finally_ decided to show up.” 

She couldn’t help but grin in triumph.

“I am perfectly on time, thank you,” Hux snapped, chin tilting up to regard her with an air of distaste, sharp cheekbones making his expression look even sharper. From under his cap brim’s shadow, his green-bright eyes regarded her; ever appraising, ever cautious. 

Rose checked her chronometer, not really looking at the time, knowing that just the appearance of refuting him would tick him off. 

To her delight, he glowered, but then a slow-rolling smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. 

“Tell me Tico,” he muttered with dark enjoyment. “did you have to set all your time pieces ten minutes fast to beat me here?”

Rose’s mouth dropped open before she could stop herself, heat flooding her face. 

“That-- _no,_ ” she lied, knowing full well that he was more than capable of seeing through her deceit. 

“Fifteen, then,” he amended, taking a step towards her, close enough that she had to lean back to keep him in her line of sight. 

Looking up into his stupidly smug, begrudgingly handsome face, Rose thought he appeared even more tired than usual; lilac bruises were visible under his eyes from lack of sleep.

Rose took a step back out of the nefarious aura he always seemed to emanate. “How’s everything back at the, uh, evil lair?”

Hux frowned at her, clearly not willing to take the joke. “I am not here to discuss my daily goings on. Do you have your datapad? I haven’t got all day, Tico.”

“Sheesh, I was only asking,” she said, extracting the device out of her back pocket. “It’s called polite conversation, okay? Honestly, I don’t even care.”

“Good,” Hux said with his usual intensity, jaw clenching. “Shall we?”

They exited into the crowded street together. Rose knew, after meeting him so many times, that Hux preferred to converse quietly as they walked, losing themselves in the crowd as he traded First Order secrets. Standing around in alleyways went against all the ‘precautions’ he was always lecturing her about. 

In the beginning, talking in public had seemed too risky to Rose. They’d settled early on a coded language, never saying ‘Resistance’ or ‘First Order’ outright. 

Rose stole a glance at the man at her side, not long ago her enemy, now something else. Something in between. Again, she noticed how exhausted he looked. If possible, he seemed even more pale.

_Honestly, I don’t even care._

Her own words echoed in her head as they walked.

Despite herself, Rose had to admit she _did_ care, if only because he was the Resistance’s lifeline to the inner workings of the First Order. That was all. If he was running himself into the ground, then he was bound to make a mistake and get caught; get _killed._

The thought bubbled up something unpleasant in the pit of her stomach: the image of Hux, forced to his knees, coiffed hair out of place, moments from death and outed as a traitor, as helpless as she had been…

It should have been an image of vindication, but it only made her nauseous. 

“Tico.”

Hux reached out with a leather-gloved hand expectantly.

Rose handed over the datapad, and in the crowded street, having to walk so close, their arms brushed.

She suppressed a shiver.

He didn’t seem to notice, brows pulled together as he unlocked the screen.

At least, Hux thought, as he extracted a small datastick from an interior pocket, Rose had proven herself competent enough to ferry his information back to General Organa. She was discrete, if not without backtalk. Despite her sass, and quite to his surprise, Hux found her to be a refreshing change from Ren and Pryde and their cagey, backhanded machinations.

Rose was honest, sincere, even when she shouldn’t be, and especially not with him.

He stole a glance at the woman by his side, noting how she’d become slightly distracted by the colorful street carts and storefronts as they passed. It was always the same, no matter which planet they met on: Rose would always get caught up in the new sights and sounds of whatever city or hamlet or spaceport in which they’d rendezvous.

Hux bit back a small smile as he inserted the datastick into the datapad. 

That look on her face was exactly the one he’d expect from such an accomplished engineer as herself; curious and always cataloging. She’d invented the baffler, after all, and he was well-read on what she’d been able to devise to counter his own brilliant inventions. Her natural inquisitiveness was a trait he easily recognized in her, because he recognized it in himself.

They might have been allies for the moment, but Hux could not deny that while he worked on his most recent conceptual weapons designs, it was Rose’s genius he fantasized of thwarting.

If he’d known then what he knew now, he might have tried harder to recruit her rather than slate her for execution. Then again, perhaps it was better that she’d escaped him on the _Finalizer._ Otherwise, he might have been assigned Dameron as his contact.

Hux blanched at the thought, watching as the pad’s authentication screen took his thumbprint and began downloading the data. 

“What have you got for us this time?” Rose questioned, peering over, her body jostling against his as they swam against the throng of market goers.

Hux disliked the overly-familiar contact, but it was more a product of the congested streets than her wanting to actually touch him, so he let it slide.

“A new laser, apparently,” he muttered. 

“Apparently?” Rose echoed, grinning slyly. “What, don’t you know?”

“I have not been assigned to this particular project,” he stated curtly, burying the cold, bitter feeling of having his own division usurped out from under him, Ren having relegated him to a non-essential station and Pryde having cut him out of the First Order’s most inner workings.

Rose frowned. Apparently, he’d been unable to hide the totality of pain from his voice.

“Sorry,” she muttered, almost a whisper, but they were close enough that he could hear it.

Hux regarded her, slightly perplexed, gaze roaming over her profile, over the soft round curve of her cheek, taking in the way in which she pulled at her full bottom lip, biting it delicately between her teeth.

“I know what it’s like to feel… sidelined,” she added after a moment, noting his questioning gaze. “Not that I’m sympathizing with you or anything.”

“No,” he breathed, feeling an odd sort of emotion at her words, even if he did not understand what or why. “Of course not.”

A certain silence settled between them then, the old datapad whirling away. 

Unconsciously, Hux had lowered his hand so the screen was held out between them and they could both watch the loading bar fill, agonizingly slow.

“You are in need of more advanced hardwear,” he said at length.

Rose hummed. “I know a certain someone who could sneak us something.”

“Surely not,” Hux snorted, sound adjacent to a laugh. “If I give in on datapads, you’ll soon be asking me to smuggle you out a TIE fighter.”

Rose’s breath caught in her throat. “Ooh, do you think you _could_ get me a TIE fighter, though?” 

Hux smirked. Cheeky woman.

He was about to issue some retort, perhaps a barb at how needy she was, or a snide comment alluding to her utter floundering without him, but in that moment, the hair on the back of his neck stood suddenly on end, the tell tale feeling of being watched was too overwhelming to ignore. 

Rose gasped, flinching as Hux’s gloved hand suddenly gripped her by the back of the neck. She was about to cry out in shock, but he pushed her down, _hard_ , her knees buckling from the sheer force of him. She stumbled, crouching as he did, pulled into him as his body instinctively shielded hers. 

Above, slicing through the air exactly where they had been standing, a blazing cross-bowcaster bolt streaked overhead and burst into the wall of a building, showering the street with sparks and noise. 

A collective, gasping scream went up around them as the locals panicked. 

Rose gaped at the burning debris of the shop overhang that the bolt had shredded. 

“What- what in the hell?”

Hux didn’t waste any more time. Still crouched, he gripped Rose by the wrist, tugging her through the tightening crowd, ducking away from the street and into an alleyway. As they pushed through stunned onlookers, he broke into a run, pulling her along with him.

“Hux! Hux, what _was_ that?!” Her panicked voice came from over his shoulder as she struggled to keep up with his pace, their slapping footfalls echoing as they ran, splattering through dirty puddles in the duracrete as they made their escape.

Obviously, Hux thought, mind racing, someone had followed him. 

How could he have missed it? How could he have been so careless?

At the end of the narrow street, they skidded around the corner, Hux pulling them down the next left, greatcoat whipping out behind him.

Rose stumbled, but kept upright, breath now coming out in labored huffs.

“Hux! Hux, wait!”

“Stop using my bloody name, you _absolute_ fool!” he barked back at her. 

Rose clammed up at that, even as her wrist began to slip from his grasp, her short legs not carrying her fast enough to match him.

Hux looked back over his shoulder at her, taking in her flushed, terrified face, open, gasping mouth, and her soft brown eyes blown wide with fear. He adjusted his grip from her wrist, moving to clasp her hand in his, slowing just enough for her to keep pace but continuing to push her stamina. 

Together, they raced along the backstreets, and as they went, Hux began to calculate their escape. 

It might have been possible for him to outrun whoever was on their tail, but Rose…

She wouldn’t last long.

They had to lose them, whoever they were.

Hux’s cap was askew, having been jostled slightly to one side. If Rose focused on the glinting strip of ginger peeking out from underneath, she could almost ignore the intense burn in her lungs and the tight, shrieking strain in her legs.

Adrenaline and fear stole her breath, the very air she needed to keep calm and keep running.

A shadow passed above them, a figure darting from one rooftop to the next, sending terror down her spine.

“Hu-” She couldn’t use his name, but, “There’s- there's someone-!”

Hux grunted, pulling them both suddenly to the side, slamming his back into the wall of a building as another bolt streaked down from on high, shattering into the street below. Rose collided with his chest, gripping his jacket in fear, his cap finally tumbling off and onto the ground.

Before their assailant could get another shot off, Hux had tugged them around the next corner, leading them further from the market street and deeper into the warehouse district.

A few more twists and turns, and Rose began to panic in earnest, energy all but spent.

“I can’t,” she panted, voice pitched high, feet faltering. “I can’t- can’t breathe!”

 _Hells_ , Hux thought desperately, casting about for a suitable spot in which to make their stand. 

Whirling, he gripped Rose by the upper arm and shoved her sideways into an open doorway, following after as they both stumbled inside an abandoned warehouse, the hinged door banging shut behind them.

Now out of the sunlight, the temperature dropped, the dusty, neglected room opening wide before them, separated by thick durasteel beams into smaller areas packed with old, discarded crates and industrial equipment. 

As they retreated further into the dimly-lit space, Rose fell forward, sinking to her knees, gasping and shaking and raking in breath on the duracrete floor. Her lungs _burned._

Hux bent swiftly to grip her under the arm, hauling her back up again. Rose sagged against him, but he pushed her away. 

“Get a hold of yourself,” he growled, shaking her by the arm, rage and tension coursing through him even as he saw the sheen of sweat upon her brow and how she looked at him, like they were both about to tumble over a cliff together. 

He set his mouth into a grim line, holding her gaze, gripping her tight. “Your weapon. Get it out.”

Her throat worked soundlessly; she looked frozen. 

“I- I-”

Hux clenched his teeth. “ _Rose!”_

The closed door to the warehouse burst open, banging back against its hinges, startling them both.

Hux pivoted around to face their attacker, dropping Rose’s arm and shoving her behind him, stepping away. 

Framed by sunlight, a tall, lanky figure stepped into the room, small cross-bowcaster in her hands. Her heeled boots clicked as they strode forward, the door’s rebounding momentum swinging it closed again with a metallic clang.

“You run pretty fast... for a skinny little rat.”

The woman’s voice, with its bold accent and heavy, rolling R's, was slightly muffled by a pointed metal mask obscuring the lower half of her face, ending at the neck of her bodysuit; black, shiny, and tight, encasing her very dark, purple skin and leaving little to the imagination. Her head was shorn smooth, her yellow, slit-pupil eyes narrowing as she took in her prey. 

Rose’s heart stilled, her blaster drawn halfway out of its holster.

This woman, she was a bounty hunter for sure.

Hux squared his shoulders, arms at his sides. His wrist flicked slightly, and Rose watched as a thin, glinting blade dropped down from his sleeve and into his hand, concealed behind his palm.

“You know,” the woman said. “they weren't sure _who_ I’d be hunting. Imagine their surprise when I tell them it was _General Hux_ all along.” She chuckled darkly.

Hux growled. Who had hired her? Not Ren. That spoiled child was too arrogant to outsource such a job. No. It was likely-- 

“Pryde,” he hissed, like a curse.

The woman’s eyes grew intense, like she was grinning under her mask. She hoisted up her crossbow, aiming it level at where Hux was standing.

“Stop!”

Rose was shocked for a moment by the sound of her own voice. 

The bounty hunter paused, brow furrowing, almost as if she hadn’t noticed Rose had been standing there, too focused on her prize. She cocked her head at the small blaster Rose was leveling in her direction.

Rose kept the barrel trained towards the woman, channeling all her fear into the viciousness of her voice.

“You shoot him, I shoot you,” Rose said, trying not to think about how impulsive this all was, how she didn’t even have a plan.

His back to her, Rose could still see the way Hux’s shoulders tensed. She tried not to glance at the knife still concealed in his palm. 

Maybe Hux could be her plan.

The woman’s harsh laugh was an echoing sound in the warehouse. “The Resistance and their bleeding hearts. What is to say I don’t just shoot the both of you, hm?”

“You really think the First Order would rather Hux be dead? Some stormtrooper spy, some low-ranking Officer, sure, blow them to bits. But General Hux?” It wasn’t hard to argue her point when she actually believed it. “ _The_ General Armitage Hux?”

His face remained impassive, but hearing her say his name like that, Hux felt something strange swell within him. Her words were a mix of admiration and awe and no small sliver of fear, and given the sheer rarity of hearing someone utter his name with anything other distaste or disappointment-- it lanced unexpectedly through him; stole his breath. 

One of the bounty hunter's eyebrows quirked up.

Rose rolled her eyes. “Look, the Resistance doesn’t care about getting involved with First Order infighting. We’ve got enough on our plate. You can _have him_ , trust me.”

The bounty hunter hadn’t shot them, not yet, so she must have, at least _considering_ Rose’s words.

“I’m just saying…” Rose shrugged her shoulders high. “Think how many credits you could leverage returning with _hostage_ Hux, rather than little itty bits of him.”

Hux angled his head back slightly at that, giving her a murderous look. Rose caught his eye and gave him a small, dismissive smile. 

_Oh well,_ that smile said.

A muscle in Hux’s jaw clenched.

Was she trying some sort of ploy, or was she really leaving him to die?

The latter thought stung oddly.

Damn it, Tico. 

“You would willingly lose your informant so easily?”

“In exchange for my life?” Rose scoffed. “You bet. I go home, you go home, I find a new source, you get paid; handsomely.” A detached expression came over her face; Hux could hear the venom of it dripping in her words. “That’s the way war is, after all.”

The bounty hunter laughed, short and sharp. 

“This is true,” she muttered, lowering her small crossbow. “The First Order can eat their own for all I care.” 

She turned her gaze to Hux. “I’m sure General Pryde will pay just a bit more for the chance to kill you himself.” 

Undoubtedly, Hux thought blandly.

With her free hand, the woman reached into her utility belt, extracting a pair of stun cuffs.

Rose lowered her blaster. 

“I won’t even mention you were here,” Rose said, giving the bounty hunter a wide berth as she made for the door, watching as the woman began to slink towards Hux.

“Now, be a good boy,” the woman cooed, “you should thank your Resistance friend for your stay in execution. Go on,” she tutted, “don’t be such a cold bast-- _!_ ”

Hux watched in wide-eyed astonishment as the bottom of Rose’s boot struck the bounty hunter in the back of her knee, sending her stumbling forward.

It was exactly the opening he needed. Hux swung up and caught the woman’s hand currently holding the crossbow, pushing it aside as he ducked a fraction, thrusting the knife up, aiming at the gap between her bodysuit and her helmet.

The woman was fast, reeling back into Rose but avoiding the knife, sending Rose stumbling backward to the ground.

Hux aborted the jab, rounding his clenched fist down instead to the woman’s wrist, held fast in his other hand. The hit was punishing, making her hand spasm, the crossbow falling to the ground with a clatter. Hux kicked it away, skidding it across the duracrete floor.

He didn’t see the woman’s free hand as it reached around for something on her belt; a knife. He barely pulled his torso back in time, jumping his weight onto his heels, avoiding the slash that would have sliced open his belly. The motion made him drop his hold of her.

They circled each other as Rose groaned, sitting up, regaining a grip on her blaster. From her position on the floor, she aimed at the bounty hunter. 

The woman saw her do so, eyes widening, and jumped to make a sudden attack at Hux, sliding in at close quarters as they clashed.

Damn it, Rose thought, teeth grinding. 

Hux and the assassin were a whirlwind of knives and violence; she couldn’t get a shot off without the risk of hitting Hux.

A small voice told her to take the shot anyway.

It wasn’t like Hux was really on her side. He’d sell her and the Resistance out the first chance he got.

So… why did she hesitate?

Was it because she saw his potential? His technological brilliance? Did she imagine what impact he could have, if his efforts weren’t wasted on war and death? 

Rose always did like repurposing First Order tech…

Or did she think fondly of their clandestine meetings. The wit that kept her on her toes and the burning fire in his gaze, pushing her to best him?

She bit her lip, one eye closed shut, the other squinting as she tried to get a clean shot. Her pulse pounded in her ears as she watched Hux duck and lash out at his opponent, surprisingly nimble and deadly with the small blade. 

A particularly vicious strike from Hux cut across the bounty hunter’s side, ripping her uniform and drawing blood. The woman hissed like an angry cat, her blade flying up towards the soft spot under his rib cage. She almost got him, but his thick greatcoat got in the way, the blade snagging there in the fabric. He twisted away, the bounty hunter’s knife wrenching from her hand.

She took the small opening to rear back and sock Hux right in the jaw. His head whipped to the side with a noise of pain, blood on his bottom lip.

His expression coalesced into fury, baring his teeth, winding up for another attack, but the bounty hunter had extracted something else from her belt, and before Rose could cry out in warning, the small device connected with Hux’s side, shocking him with a jolt of electricity and crumpling him to the floor.

“Hux!” 

Rose scrambled to her feet as the bounty hunter knelt briefly, prying the monomolecular blade out of his limp hand. 

“Get away from him,” Rose growled, advancing with her blaster, fear trickling down her spine as the woman rose back up to her full height, now wielding both the taser and the knife.

Rose got a shot off, but it went wide, and suddenly the woman pounced towards her. Rose reacted on instinct and swung out with the hand holding the blaster, connecting with the blade, snapping it off toward the hilt. Unfortunately, the force of the blow knocked her own weapon out of her hands in the process.

The assassin growled, advancing still, and now Rose had no blaster.

Icy terror flooded through Rose’s body, buzzing in her head as a loud warning to _RUN,_ even as her feet refused to move.

The bounty hunter snarled in triumph, nearly upon her, when to both their surprise, an arm locked around the woman’s neck, yanking her backwards. Hux, unsteady on his feet, was nevertheless dragging the woman away from Rose. 

The woman snarled, writhing in Hux’s grasp, trying to wrench herself free even as Hux held her firm, jerking his arm back to choke her. Her arms flailed wildly as she twisted, and Rose watched in horror as the now-jaggedf hilt of Hux’s own knife sunk into the flesh of his right bicep, eliciting from him a loud grunt of pain.

The fresh wound only seemed to enrage him further, and the arm he was using to choke the bounty hunter lifted up against the side of her face, his other hand darting up to grip the opposite side of her head. With a jerking motion, he pulled his hands, and Rose heard the woman’s neck snap as her head twisted violently to one side. 

In that one, quick moment, it was all over, and Hux dropped his hold as the woman’s body crumpled to the floor. He backed away from the bounty hunter’s limp form, moving towards the wall to rest and gather himself.

Rose almost asked if he was alright, if he needed help with the wound, but couldn’t get the words to form; she was nearly vibrating from the high of the fight.

Hux pressed his lips together, teeth gritting hard as he took hold of the knife handle and yanked out the jagged blade with a hiss of pain, tossing it away into the shadows where it clattered onto the duracrete floor.

Rose watched him with wide eyes, still stunned at everything that had just happened. 

Hux gasped in a shaking breath, shoulders drawn forward in a slight, pained hunch, gripping the wound before he moved to wipe at the cut on his lip with the back of his glove, smearing a shock of his own red blood against his mouth. He frowned, confused at the wet, sticky feeling, his tongue darting out to lick at the wound, eyes alight with feral fury and flooding triumph. As he did so, their eyes met. 

Rose felt something dark and dangerous jolt to a pulse between her legs. 

The sight of him, almost undone from fighting for his life, having _won_ , made her own blood sing hot through her veins. 

Hux raked in breath, carding a gloved hand through his hair, thrumming with victory and the sweet-sharp lust only a near death experience could bring. He recognized the want in her eyes, and it roared, white hot and forbidden inside him, boosted by adrenaline, shooting down low into his belly. Rose moved first, taking the necessary steps toward him, unsure but knowing she had to do something, had to _feel_ him, if only to make sure they were both still alive and breathing. 

Hux watched her advance, gaze keen and alight with excitement. He did not stop her as she gripped the front of his coat and hauled him down for a kiss. 

Rose could taste him: the warmth of his mouth and the sharp tang of his blood.

Her heart leapt when he responded, his lips insistent, pressing firmly back as he worked his mouth against hers with mirrored desperation, dragging her closer as she surged forward and walked him back against the wall. He let her maneuver him as he coaxed her lips open, licking into her mouth, and pulled her body more fully against his, hard and lean against her.

At the moan resonating in the back of her throat, Hux seemed to come back to himself. Breaking their kiss roughly, he pushed her away, holding her out firmly by the forearm.

His forehead was furrowed with incredulity, lips parted, panting hard, flushed still from the fight and her subsequent ravishing.

Rose gaped at him, at his mouth to be exact, like she couldn’t believe what she’d just done.

He snarled. “If this is a trick--”

 _“No,”_ Rose shot back, almost surprised at her own insistence, at how much she needed him to trust her.

A muscle in his jaw twitched, watching her warily, even as his voice pitched lower, more strained, the green in his eyes glinting, heated and eager despite his reservation.

“Deploying an attractive young woman as an operative… it’s not unheard of.”

“You think I’d— after what we _just--!”_ As she tried to defend herself, her eyebrows jumped up, finally registering all his words, her incredulity melting into intrigue. “Attractive, huh?”

Hux glowered at her, still breathing hard, but she saw the way his eyes roamed over her body.

Unbearably frustrated and beginning to come down off the high of the fight, Rose needed an answer.

 _“_ Look, do you want to do this or not?” she hissed. “I’m not going to wait forever, Hux. I can walk out of here right n--”

Rose gave a startled gasp of pleasure as he took hold of her and spun them around, so it was he who pinned her fully with his hands and his hips against the duracrete wall. She could feel the press of his erection on the inside slope of her thigh, the sensation making her head spin. 

Was he-- was his arousal from the fight or from her? Rose found she suddenly didn’t care, it didn’t matter. They were _alive_ and she wanted him.

She sighed, head tilting back to give him access to her throat as he ground against her. 

_Finally._

When his mouth didn’t immediately find her neck, she peered over at him, watching as he began to slide down her body and kneel before her. She shook her head vigorously, even as the sight of him doing _that--_ ladies first-- sent such a powerful jolt between her legs that she almost let him do it. But it was delaying what she really wanted.

Fisting her hand in his expensive-feeling shirt, she hauled him back up to her level, twisting the fabric between her fingers.

“Inside. _Now.”_

He looked almost stunned, but straightened back up, wasting no time in undoing her belt.

The knowledge that she was unarmed and alone with him, it sent a certain sort of feeling coursing through him.

And he- he wanted…

His thoughts stuttered as she began to work a hand up his shirt, which had become untucked slightly from the fight. 

He caught her hand quickly, unwilling to allow her underneath all his armor, redirecting her south before the pout on her lips really took shape. He continued to tug her fatigues off as she undid the fly to his trousers and plunged her hand within, wrapping around the hard, hot length of him through the fabric below.

A sound came out of him then, something between a groan and a surprised gasp. She was certainly _bold,_ but any hesitancy he would normally feel fell away under the relief of their improbable victory.

Reluctantly, after stroking him a few times through his soft underthings, relishing in the way his mouth fell open and his breathing hitched, Rose pulled back and slid her pants down, toeing off her shoes and kicking the fatigues off her feet; huried, rushed, impatient.

He followed suit, pushing everything down around his hips, watching her with a hungry look, taking in the way her gaze lingered on him, newly exposed. She bit her lip, as if in agonized anticipation, and it only fueled his sudden, sharp desire for her, keen and raw after winning out over death once again. He didn’t bother removing his shirt, or his coat, or even his pants for that matter; they were both desperate for the warmth the other would provide. Proof, however temporary, that they’d both survived.

She pulled him toward her once again as he snuck his hand down between them, palming at the heat of her core with a gloved hand. Rose moaned, grinding down upon the leather, a new but alluring feeling against her sensitive skin. 

Pushing aside the soaked fabric of her underwear, he did it again, tracing her folds with a finger, up and back as he caught her mouth in a bruising kiss, plunging his tongue into her mouth and thrusting a leather-clad digit up inside her.

Rose bit down on his tongue, hard, eliciting a rumble of pleasure rumble from the back of his throat. Crooking his finger within her, she bucked into his touch. 

He stroked into her gently, but Rose wanted more, the roar of her libedo making her grind down onto him with considerable force.

Before she could tell him off for denying her any longer, Hux pulled his hand back, glove slick and shining, bending momentarially to grip her thighs and hoist her higher. Instinctually, her legs wrapped around him, under his coat, hooking behind his back as he held her against the wall. 

He could hear her panting in his ear as he glanced down, nudging against her and aligning himself to slip inside. Rose made a warm, satisfied sound as thrust into her slowly, determinedly, methodical and deliciously torturous, until she took him to the hilt.

“Oh _stars,”_ she muttered, feeling so perfectly full and stretched by him as they momentarily caught their breath together, panting the same air, bodies warm where they pressed against one another.

The sensation of her was enough to make Hux dizzy.

Rose raked her fingers through his hair, yanking him down to the soft skin of her neck, and he bit down, bucking up into her hard. They both groaned.

The wound in his arm sang with pain as he held her aloft, but it was all drowned out by the feel of her as Hux began a harsh, near-bruising pace, each forward thrust pushing Rose up the wall a few inches. She arched her back and tugged him closer.

A wicked grin twisted his mouth at the sight of her: head thrown back, tan skin shining with exertion. He felt a certain kind of victory in being able to elicit such a response from her. 

In that moment, Hux allowed himself to forget that he was fucking his enemy; it was just Rose, the brilliantly-minded pain in his ass, whose rendezvous he couldn’t admit were the highlight of his otherwise infuriating, demeaning existance aboard the _Steadfast_.

Here, he wasn’t some maligned First Order General, or a spy, or a rabid cur; he was just a man and she’d desired him, and he’d been more than willing to give himself to her.

“Is this- ah, is this what you wanted?” He rasped, words getting stuck part way out as he snapped his hips and she squeezed around him, stealing his breath.

“Gods, yes,” she groaned, inhaling sharply as his next thrust touched her deep inside, sending a sizzle of pleasure all over her body. Her legs constricted harder around him. “Mmh! Hux!”

He’d never heard his name uttered in such a way before, but he wanted to hear it from her again and again and again. The pressure in his hips coiled tight as she shuttered and shivered, drawing him further towards his peak as her hand reached down between them to circle against her clit. 

He watched, gaze pulled downward to where she touched herself, entranced by how he moved into her as she took him.

Suddenly, she jerked tight, her free hand fisting almost painfully in the lower fringes of his hair, her body fluttering around him as her orgasm raced through her, her back arching off the wall as she came.

“Rose,” he whispered, almost tender, drawing her down into a slow, languid kiss, swallowing her whimper as the soft, silken squeeze of her finally pulled him over the edge. His hips rocked forward, pressing tight against her, burying himself deep with one final thrust as his own pleasure pulsed through his body, spilling himself into her as she held him, the whole world burning away under the all-encompassing sensation of her touch.

In the aftermath, all they could hear was their combined breathing. Rose petted his hair back down from where she’d mussed it, peppering his forehead with sweet little kisses. 

His legs trembled, but Hux was able to hold her steady, eyes slanting open to peer at her pretty, flushed face and her kiss-stung lips. She looked sleepy and sated; perfectly content. 

She grinned lazily at him.

“That was…” she started, but then trailed off, still hazy in the afterglow.

“Indeed,” he agreed, breathless, heart pounding, amazed and slightly mystified at how they’d managed to start off the day running for their lives only to end up in each other’s arms. 

War was hell, Hux knew that; physical release was just one of the ways to stay sane, stay grounded, relieve any pent up tension. Fighting for your life wound one up. But it didn’t feel like base human need with her; not with Rose, whom he secretly found a worthy adversary to his own ambition.

Slowly, he slid from her, tucking Rose’s soft whine of protest deep inside his heart, even if he wasn’t sure why it was suddenly so precious to him.

Lowering her gently, he kept a hand against the small of her back so she could find her feet. Once she was steady, he let her stand on her own, adjusting his own trousers back into place. 

“Hux...”

“Hmm?” he hummed in question, voice slow and thick as he stepped away to grab her fatigues, handing them over as he regarded her, head cocked slightly to the side. 

“Your arm… is it…?”

He blinked slowly, having almost forgotten. Fingering the slit in his coat, he felt the wound had already begun to coagulate. 

“It will be fine,” he said as she took her clothing back from him. He turned slowly to seek out the datapad, the whole reason for their meeting in the first place, finding it cast aside on the floor a few feet away.

He extracted the datastick, and Rose thought he looked rather sweet and drowsy as he did so. She wondered what he was thinking as he watched her pull her pants back on one leg at a time. 

For her own part, Rose felt wobbly as she dressed, thoroughly wrung out; sticky and in need of a place to clean up. All she wanted now was a nap and maybe something to eat, the adrenaline from their fight and the sudden spark of desperate sex having drained her completely.

After she’d slipped her feet back in her shoes, Hux gave her back the tablet. Still unsteady, Rose wobbled forward as she took it, and was surprised that he let her lean against him for a moment. 

He told himself it was for her own benefit, so she could gather herself, even as he relished in her nearness, unaware of the smile on her face as she listened to his heartbeat. 

Eventually, he spoke. “Tico…”

She pulled away, taking a small step back from him, eyeing him with a slight smile. “Back to Tico again, huh? Not Rose anymore?” 

Hux frowned at the floor, eyes flicking up to hers and back down again. She was pleased at the light blush that flared on his cheeks.

“We should part ways,” he said eventually, shifting his weight slightly. They’d already been careless enough; who knew if anyone would come after the bounty hunter when she did not return. “From here you should be able to reach your port of call if you track south and then east again.” 

Her heart jumped. “Oh, right…”

They made for the exit, leaving their fallen enemy behind them, Rose trying not to look at the bounty hunter’s body. She’d sort of… forgotten, in the heat of the moment. 

“Thank you Hux,” she said, “for saving me.”

His jaw worked. “I could say the same,” he muttered. “You were well within your rights to leave me to my fate.” 

“I would _never--”_ Rose started, then swallowed, unsure if the flutter in her stomach was from embarrassment or nerves or something else. “Just, be careful when you go back, okay? For now your identity is still unknown, but anything could happen.”

Hux stared at her, not knowing what to say, eventually grunting in assent as they stepped out into the shadowed light of the warehouse district. 

Rose took a deep breath of fresh air, her body aching pleasantly in all the right places.

“I’ll be sure to rip apart all your intel before our next meeting,” she teased gently, tucking the datapad back into her pocket.

The small smile Hux gave her was unexpectedly soft, even as it tilted up more to one side in a slight smirk. His green eyes were unreadable as he regarded her.

“I should hope so,” he said quietly.

Rose looked away then, the flutter beating hard against her breast. Perhaps she was only now beginning to realize the line they’d just crossed; how nothing between them would ever be the same again. 

Rose tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, giving him one last look and a small, shy smile.

“Okay,” she said. “See you.” 

Hux nodded in farewell, hands shoved into his coat pockets, watching as she moved away from him, opposite the direction he was headed and down the street. 

Once, before she turned the corner and he lost sight of her, she looked back, and he didn’t miss the expression she gave him: something new, something _warm_ , and it unfurled a strange sort of contentment in his chest. 

The feeling she’d elicited lingered there, even as she slipped away and out of sight, even as he made sure the coast was clear before starting back towards where he’d docked his own ship. 

For the first time in a long time, strolling back up the lane, Hux felt _light_ , unburdened, despite his even more tenuous position in the Order.

Well, he could deal with Pryde and the botched hit job later. 

For now, he could only think of Rose, and how the thought of seeing her again was already as addicting as the way she’d moaned his name.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to Brit and Karma for inspiring this piece!
> 
> Thanks to Brit also for the amazing edits, as always.


End file.
